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Our online community is the place for you to connect with us at Novation and other like-minded music makers. Here you can check in on our artist stories, get all the latest news, watch our most recent video releases and explore what we're up to on social media.

Free: Max for Live ‘Scrubber’ device.

Philadelphia based music producer Evan Bogunia aka
dataf1ow has created a free Max For Live plugin that exploits the new ‘Scrub’ API call implemented in Ableton Live 9.2.

Designed for Launchpad and Push, the ‘eb.Scrubber device’ dynamically grabs the playing clip in the assigned tracks and divides it up into 16 sections, allowing you to randomly move the playhead position within the selected audio and MIDI clips whilst remaining in sync.

This is an interesting tool for live performance and offers a new way of recycling and personalising audio samples.

Inside Novation: An Interview with Olly Burke

In this rare interview, the team at Ask Audio Magazine sit down with Novation's own Olly Burke, to discuss Launchpad Pro, from concept to completion.

As Product Manager, Olly has been key in the evolution of the Launchpad range and shares unique insight on how these products were conceived, how they have developed and the thought processes that resulted in the new features of Launchpad Pro.

20 ways to beat writer's block and start a new track

The next time you are sat at your keys wondering where to start, why not try these interesting suggestions from the team at Computer Music Magazine.

They have 20 ideas to help you get started If you are short on ideas or looking for a new creative direction. From creating a soundtrack to a non existent film to drawing inspiration from politics and the world around you. We think their guide is an interesting way of generating fresh inspiration.

Crowd-sourced coastal sounds

The National Trust, National Trust for Scotland and the British Library have teamed up to create a sound map of the UK’s 10,800 mile coastline, from beaches and ports to cliffs and seaside towns.

If you are in the UK you can get involved by recording sounds at the coast and uploading them to their audioBoom page. Sounds can be up to five minutes in length and accompanied by words and images. These will later be hosted on the British Library website and added to its Sound Archive for future generations to enjoy.

These sounds could also be used creatively within a piece of music. English 'new wave' pioneer Martyn Ware of The Human League and Heaven 17 (above) has confirmed that he will be making a piece of music using sounds sourced from this project.

Watch: Relative EQing using Max for Live

Having difficulty mixing that new song? The team over at Point Blank electronic music school in London have developed an interesting way of creating a 'relative EQ' tool using Ableton's Max for Live, this is sure to help you get multiple elements working harmoniously in your track with ease.

Learn how it works here:

Listen: The Second Summer Of Love Mixes

On April 30th, 2015 we teamed up with dublab to host an event for the Britweek celebrations. The Second Summer of Love event took place at the Ace Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles and was dedicated to the rise of Acid House in the UK during 1988 and ’89.

dublab DJs Jimi Hey, Daddy Differently, Lovefingers and Heidi Lawden played classic songs from this period and paid tribute to some of the influential clubs from this era: Shoom, Trip and The Haçienda.

Watch: Launchpad Pro at MusikMesse 2015

Free: Isotonik Studios LaunchSync

Users of the Launch Control XL and the Launchpad range should check out this useful Max for Live application created by Isotonik Studios.
LaunchSync allows you to explore new functionality within Ableton Live and create some solid live performance configurations.
Get it here.

Watch: Graham Dunning's Mechanical Techno

Artist and Musician Graham Dunning has a unique and inspiring live performance setup.

In his 'Mechanical Techno' rig, Dunning uses several customised records spinning precariously on the same turntable. Each record is used to provide a different sonic element in his performance.